MANSFIELD, Ohio  The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Kronis Coatings Division of Jay Industries Inc. in Mansfield with 14 safety violations that include failing to provide fall protection and require the use of personal protective equipment while handling chemicals and performing electrical work. OSHA initiated an inspection Feb. 8 as a part of its Site-Specific Targeting Program, which focuses inspections efforts on employers in high injury and illness industries. Proposed penalties for the citations total $51,000. Jay Industries Inc. also is headquartered in Mansfield.

"Employers are responsible for fostering a safe and healthful working environment for their employees," said Kim Nelson, area director for OSHA in Toledo. "It is important that employers ensure workers do not have to endure unnecessary risks to earn a living."

Thirteen serious safety violations involve not establishing an effective lockout/tagout program, electrical safety deficiencies, machine guarding hazards, a lack of fall protection in a storage area with a height of more than 9 feet, and a lack of personal protective equipment for employees handling chemicals and performing electrical work. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Kronis Coatings Division also has been cited with one other-than-serious violation for failing to ensure a personal protective equipment hazard assessment was certified. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

Kronis Coatings Division welds and powder coats metal automotive parts and employs 47 workers. Jay Industries, which employs about 800 workers companywide, operates five facilities in Mansfield  one of which is Kronis Coatings Division  and one each in Ann Arbor, Mich., St. Charles, Ill., and Gadsen, Ala. Jay Industries' headquarters facility in Mansfield was inspected in 2009 and cited for three health-related violations.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Toledo Area Office at 419-259-7542.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.